New Deal African American Workers in the Civilian Conservation Corps Photo Archive during Roosevelt Administration's Depression Era Public Works Revitalization, 1937

Civilian Conservation Corps

Photograph

[African American][New Deal][Labor] Black Civilian Conservation Corps member photograph archives, showing an all-Black CCC unit in Pennsylvania, ca. 1937. These photographs document the experiences of Black participants in the Civilian Conservation Corps, one of the central employment and public works initiatives created under President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. Established in 1933 during the Great Depression, the CCC employed hundreds of thousands of young men in forestry, soil conservation, infrastructure construction, and national park development. African American participation in the program was constrained by federal segregation policies; although the Roosevelt administration permitted Black enrollment, camps were typically organized as segregated companies. Photographs documenting daily life within Black CCC units remain important visual evidence of African American participation in federal relief programs and of the labor systems that shaped New Deal environmental and infrastructure projects during the 1930s.

Archive of thirty five original photographs depicting African American CCC workers at a camp identified on several versos in pencil “C.C.C. Civilian Conservation Corp. ca. 1937.” The photographs show uniformed enrollees posing individually and in groups in front of wooden camp barracks and stone structures, standing beside camp roads and trail markers, and gathered for informal portraits. Several images depict recreational or training activities including a boxer striking a suspended punching bag and uniformed men standing beside camp buildings. Other photographs document work environments and camp operations, including interior kitchen scenes with cooks holding large metal stock pots, outdoor views of barracks compounds, and images of men standing on large winter ice formations or snowbanks. One photograph shows a sign reading “State Game Lands” and “Portland Mills Trail,” suggesting a forestry or conservation project in Elk County, Pennsylvania. Portraits of workers appear alongside casual snapshots of camp life, rural roads, outdoor activity, and unit work positions. One striking portrait shows an enrollee in uniform with a ranger hat inscribed "Sincerely Phil".
Thirty five original photographs, primarily silver gelatin snapshots ranging approximately from 2.5 x 3.5 inches to 3.5 x 5.5 inches. Versos of several prints bear pencil notations identifying the images as Civilian Conservation Corps photographs dated circa 1937. The photographs depict camp buildings, wooded landscapes, and work or recreation scenes consistent with CCC forestry and conservation camps of the mid-1930s. Light edge wear, occasional corner creasing, scattered surface toning, and minor handling marks visible on several prints; images remain clear with strong contrast overall. Overall condition good. A cohesive archive documenting African American men's participation in the Civilian Conservation Corps and the everyday social and labor environments of segregated New Deal work camps.

Item #23040

Price: $2,850.00